Team Liquid will look to bench and replace veteran support player Alex “Xpecial” Chu for the next season, sources close to the organization tell the Daily Dot. The move comes after they managed a third place finish in the regular season but failed to qualify for the World Championships after losing 3-1 to Cloud9.
One source informed us that the move comes after jungler Christian “IWillDominate” Rivera was handed control of the roster. Rivera, the source says, “wants to reinvigorate the line-up with some young blood.”
The player set to replace Chu in the support role will be 18-year-old Andy “Smoothie” Ta, who spent last season playing for Team Dragon Knights. The team had a wretched LCS season following some visa problems for their starting roster and they finished rock bottom of the North American league, leading to automatic relegation. Rivera is said to be quite the admirer of the young player’s abilities, despite the poor season Dragon Knights endured.
Another source close to Rivera confirmed the move. “Xpecial has been around for so long that there’s a feeling he might not be able to perform at the level you need to be the best in North America,” this person said. “Dominate seems to have made up his mind that Xpecial has to be the one to go if they are to improve as a team.”
Photo by Jacob Wolf
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